#Nora is trying to fatten him up

[dclovesdanny]

DcxDp prompts

Dan/Danny/Dani additions 1/5

Danny is adoption bait to the Gotham rogues.

Danny only went to Gotham university because it had a lot of ambient ectoplasm and he could fast track to the arrow space department in Wayne enterprises if he worked hard enough. He didn’t need adopting, he was already 19 years old and had a (strained, very distant) relationship with his parents. When he moved to Gotham, he expected to have to deal with people wanting to make him a new Wayne, not with all of the Gotham rogues immediately trying to adopt him.

So what if he defended Killer Croc from some asshole cops, accidentally exposing his fangs and had a conversation about being dehumanized with him that led to them having dinner on Wednesdays?

So what if he got into a serious conversation about the green gas effect and pollution (Sam had taught him well) with Poison Ivy that result in him coming over for dinner and Harley Quinn declaring him a ‘sweetheart’?

So what if he directed Frostbitw to help Mr. Freeze and now Nora invited him over for brunch on Sundays?

So what if he had a wonderful conversation with the Riddler in which they traded space themed riddles which lead to Riddler seeking him out sometimes for a game?

So what if he helped Mr. cobble pot by making him intangible when some people were driving by in about splash mud on him and he now had a part time job there as a bouncer?

So what if Grundy played tag with him every other Thursday and called him Little Death and offered to eat his chemical engineering teacher who gave him a low grade because he didn’t follow safety precautions?

This didn’t mean he was adoption bait. Shut up Sam.

[kyoshithewriter]

Sweetest Temptation

Warnings: (smut 18+), cheating (not between fmc and Aurélien)

Wc: 9k

A/n: First Tchouameni fic as per request of a follower lol. Enjoy?

Luke [8:30 pm]: I’ll be home late again tonight, don’t wait up. Remember the gala tomorrow.

Nora rolls her eyes at the message, tossing her phone carelessly somewhere in the cherry red silk sheets of the king sized bed.

“Stupid, just stupid. Getting all dressed up for fucking-” she rips at the sultry red, lacy lingerie in frustration. Why does she even bother? Why even try anymore? Her mother insisted that she is always being dramatic, that marrying a man like Luke obviously means that he’ll be scarce.

“Honey, you married a wealthy, very important man. It doesn’t matter if he’s not home often, stop complaining with cartier diamonds around your neck.”

But she wouldn’t get it; she only cares about Luke showering her with gifts and fattening her own bank account. Her husband is very generous after all. Nora won’t deny the luxury is nice, but she is lonely; very lonely. Nora does not think it’s normal for months at a time to pass without sex in a marriage. Seven months, while under the same roof, without being touched. She has reached her limit. Is she really ready for a divorce though? For the disappointment and possible contempt she’ll face from her family and his? She won’t know for certain but something has got to give.

**************

Luke makes a point of stomping his way up the grand staircase. It’s his passive aggressive little dig to show his impatience. His footsteps echo about the mansion that’s entirely a lot too much for two people. Hell, she could argue one person since most his time is spent on the top floor of his skyscraper in the city.

“Nora, we’re already twenty minutes late.” He says through his clenched teeth, fingers pinching at the bridge of his nose. The 6ft caucasian man is dressed in a fitted armani dark blue suit that she thinks is a bit boring and clashes with the vibrant green of his eyes. His chestnut brown hair is slicked back to show off his angular face. Luke is definitely handsome. She was smitten by him in university and he was so charming; so charming that even now, knowing what she knows, if time was reversed she still wouldn’t be able to resist him. She’s still struggling to come to terms with the fact that he’s changed so much. Maybe he hasn’t changed, maybe he just doesn’t love you anymore. She physically shakes her head to get rid of the thought. Nora instead focuses on her reflection as she spritzes on her perfume. The rich, olive green dress complements her smooth brown skin so well. The top is halter- like with a plunging neckline that shows off her supple cleavage. The dress hugs her figure to the top of her knees before flowing off to the floor. The jet black sew in is neatly curled and parted to the side. She topped off her look with delicate gold jewelry and heels. Her makeup is on the softer side but a bit smokey around her eyes to make her molton brown irises pop.

“They’ll start just fine without us, we’re not the ones greeting the guests.” She responds with an eye roll.

“Doesn’t matter, do you know how it looks to potential business partners showing up this late? And that smug prick-”

“Okay okay. I’m ready.” Nora says exasperated. She grabs her clutch and storms off ahead of him. She can’t help but think, if this was two years ago he would’ve whispered how good she looked getting all dressed up and pulled her down on their bed for a quickie.

**************

The gala is in full swing by the time the couple arrive. Nora pretends she doesn’t feel Luke glaring through his peripheral as they enter the lobby of the five-star hotel.

“There he is!”

A stocky man that Nora recognizes as the CFO of Luke’s business strolls in their direction. The man appears to be toeing the line of tipsy yet he still carries a glass of dark brown liquor.

“Chuck, nice of you to already be in this state an hour in.” Luke says with faux cheer in his voice.

“Don’t worry about it-”

“But I am worried, Chuck. I organized this event for special reasons and you will not fuck it up like you did the last one you stupid fucking alcoholic. Put the whiskey down and sober up before you have to give your presentation. The only reason I haven’t fired you is because I promised my old man.” Luke says through clenched teeth with a smile stretching his face the entire time. Chuck turns red with shame.

“Uh, y-yes. I apologize. I’ll-” the man stutters then stumbles away.

Nora glares at Luke, hoping that if she wills it hard enough, he would spontaneously combust.

“You didn’t have to be so harsh. You know he’s been drinking to cope with his wife’s passing.” She hisses quietly at him but keeps her expression neutral.

“He can cope however the fuck he likes outside my presence, Nora.” Luke doesn’t look her way as he offers a smile to someone who beckons him over. He grabs at her hand to lead her over to some elderly man surrounded by a group of people clearly of similar importance. This might be the part Nora hates the most; but she has been integrated into this lifestyle for almost five years now and knows how to perform. So she plasters a smile on her face and accepts the empty cheek smooches and returns the fake pleasantries.

It’s been thirty minutes of standing in the same position discussing stocks and bonds and whatever the fuck else. Nora is nursing a glass of bubbly champagne and bored out of her mind. She needs an escape.

“Bathroom.” She whispers in Luke’s ear. The man just nods without looking in her direction. Downing the rest of the drink, she places the glass on the empty tray of one of the passing servers and heads towards the entrance. She hesitates in the foyer, deciding to take the left that leads to the gardens outside the hotel instead. She didn’t really need the bathroom anyway. The back garden is dimly lit but the fresh air and sound of the water fountain rather than pitched voices raving about what happened on Wall Street is enough to make her shoulders sag. Nora expels all the breath in her lungs in a long woosh.

“That can’t be good.”

The deep rumble of a masculine voice startles her so much that she lets out a sharp, shrill scream. The man steps from out of the shadows, stubbing a cigarette under his foot. He holds both hands up in a way to show he’s non-threatening.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” He says with a small smile pulling at his lips.

“Maybe try not hiding out in the dark?!” Nora fires back, hand clutching at her chest.

“I wasn’t hiding. Maybe you need to be more aware of your surroundings.” He responds easily. He widens his stance, placing both hands in the pockets of his well-fitted slacks. She’s not sure who designed the all black suit he wears but they must be in love with him. It’s perfect for his tall frame. Very tall. She gulps. He stands at about 6’1, she thinks. His hair is in a high taper with a perfect fade. The man’s skin tone is dark and rich. His brown eyes are kind and his face cleanly shaven. Nora eyes the AP watch glistening on his wrist. Fucking hell. It’s been a while since she has seen a man look this good. Or maybe she had just been too blinded by love to notice any. But that would mean… no, she’s sure this man is just gorgeous.

“Maybe. I just needed some air.” She whispers, looking up at him from beneath her lashes.

“Hmm, I understand. Needed a break myself.” The man doesn’t take his eyes off her for a second.

“Are you staring at me because I seem familiar but you’re unable to place it?” She’s no stranger to those exact words from people. Luke is well known, especially in the business world and being his wife, expectedly, comes with some attention. She has even been captured by paparazzi a few times as well.

“No. I’m staring at you because you’re fucking gorgeous.” He says without missing a beat.

Her skin tightens and her breathing stutters.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” The man asks, cocking his head a little.

“Like what?” She manages to breathe out. She physically shivers as his eyelids seem to lower a bit at the tone of her voice. It’s all breathy but it wasn’t intentional at all. He’s really… doing things to her.

“Like you haven’t heard that from someone in a while?”

She looks away from him bashfully. If only he knew how right he was…

“What’s yo-”

Nora’s eyes catch Luke’s form heading in the direction of the bathroom further down the hallway. Fuck, she has probably been gone a while and he’s off to look for her.

“I- I’ve got to get back inside.” She cuts him off before dashing through the doors to re-enter the building.

***********

“Where have you been?” The clench of his jaw and furrow between his brow indicate pure annoyance.

“I got lost, then I was distracted by the water fountain out back.” She mutters nonchalantly, accepting his offered elbow to be escorted back inside. Nora wants to scream when she realizes they’re heading right back to the group she left to escape earlier. Luke falls seamlessly back in conversation with them while Nora busies herself with counting the deviled eggs and shrimp cocktails on table three. At some point, the same man that first beckoned Luke over gives a dramatic gasp.

“Aurelien! Join us.” His voice booms out with pure excitement. It’s a bit unnerving to see how a man his age lights up like a kid in an ice-cream shop. Luke stiffens by her side and that gets her attention. She subtly peeks at her husband in her peripheral to find his expression stony where he was pleasant seconds before. Nora looks up just in time to see the man nearing their group and it’s her turn to lock her body tight.

“Mr. Zelenski.” The man she now knows is Aurelien, greets smoothly as soon as he’s in earshot. He offers his hand to everyone in the circle who introduces themselves eagerly.

“Ah, Mr. Tchouameni, I’m Luke. Founder and owner of-”

“I know who you are, don’t tire yourself with an introduction Mr. Spence.” He says almost dismissively. He swings his eyes towards her and Nora holds her breath. She’s not sure why, they only had a small conversation but the air between them feels so charged.

“Oh! Yes, this is Nora, my wife.” Luke says flippantly.

Nora can’t even care to be offended right now. Not when Aurelien is looking at her like this; not when he reaches his hand in her direction for her to grasp, not when she notices how his big, warm hand dwarfs her own. Not when he gives the inside of her palm an intentional rub with his index finger that nobody else sees.

“Nice to meet you, Nora.” He says softly.

“Likewise, Mr. Aurelien.”

“You can call me Aurel, please. I know my name isn’t easy for non- french speakers.” He keeps his eyes locked on hers.

Luke clears his throat loudly and Nora pulls her hand away.

”Aurel, I’ve been dying to meet you. Your eye for investments is quite remarkable; especially as an athlete. Who knew you’d also be good in businesses? How are you… always right?” One of the middle aged men in the group asks, clearly awestruck. Nora doesn’t care enough about Luke’s world to be familiar with all the moguls but Aurel clearly is a big deal.

“Not always I’m afraid.”

“Don’t be modest, Aurel. You are good.” One man says in pure admiration.

“I guess I just know what I want and I go for it.” He responds but keeps his eyes firmly on Nora’s fidgeting form. She holds her breath, eyes dancing around the room to avoid his eyes.

“I mean, isn’t it just luck? Just being lucky enough to invest in the right things. Nothing like building a company from the ground up.” Luke says slyly.

“I mean, would it be ground up if your father conceptualized the idea and funded most of it?” Nora asks coyly. She looks over at Aurel in time to see him wiping at his mouth with thumb, clearly trying to hide his smirk. Silence descends on the group and Luke’s grip on her waist tightens briefly.

“Well what would you know about any of this Nora, sweetheart? You’ve been trying to get your little catering idea up and running for years now.” Luke says with a chuckle. A few men join him. Not Aurel though. He glares at Luke with a contemplative look on his face.

“Like, I’ll buy you all the diamonds your heart desires but I’m not wasting my money funding that silly little fantasy.” Rowdy laughter erupts from the group and Nora blinks her eyes rapidly trying to keep the tears at bay. Her face heats and her throat tightens. She’s never felt so small in her life.

“And why would you, as her husband, not fund her idea? You have the money I’m assuming.” Aurel’s authoritative voice cuts through the laughter. The group goes quiet again.

“Of course I have the money, it’s just not a smart idea.” Luke sputters.

“And since when is food not smart business?”

“I-I-”

Aurel turns his attention solely on her then. His eyes soften significantly.

“Have you ever provided catering for an event before?” He asks softly.

“I, um yes. I do all of Luke’s business events. Even this one. And they’re all my own recipes and I hand make all the pastries myself.” She responds shyly.

“I allow her this, it’s a great hobby and she’s a bloody good cook. It would be a shame not to take advantage of it but nobody is willing to invest-”

“I’ll do it.” Aurel responds easily with a shrug of his shoulders.

“You don’t have to be nice because you feel bad, she’s-”

“Nora, do you accept my offer?” The man completely ignores Luke. The group around them stands in tense silence.

“I-” Nora looks up at Luke to find him staring coldly at her. Fuck him.

“I accept.” She smiles at the man. He returns it, reaching into the breast pocket of his suit to hand her a sleek card.

“Let’s schedule a meeting at my office some time in the upcoming week. I have some free time now before preseason rolls around.”

Nora reaches for the card, smiling up at him bashfully.

“Thank you.”

“You’re just wasting money.” Luke says bitterly.

“And? I have more than I know to do with anyway.” He gives Nora a wink before turning to stride away from the group. And the way he carries himself, with his hands in pockets all the while, commanding attention without having to ask for it, it’s going to be engraved in Nora’s brain for a while.

************

“You embarrassed me, Nora!” Luke is absolutely raging as he flings their front door open. He doesn’t look back to make sure she enters after him, he just stomps his way across the sleek, white marble floor. He heads in the direction of the staircase, ripping the tie from around in his neck in pure frustration. Nora trails behind, looking over her shoulder to make sure the gate is closed before locking the front door.

“Embarrassed you? What would you call what you did to me? You humiliated me for some giggles from middle aged men! I am your wife!” She fires back at him.

“Only because you embarrassed me first. You thought you were slick with that comment about my father? You want me to feel guilty for coming from money because my parents are smart and responsible?”

“Excuse me?!” Nora knows that’s a dig at her background. Her parents aren’t the best educated and had five children. They struggled all throughout her childhood and Nora had to work twice as hard in school to get scholarships in addition to student loans to get into university to study culinary arts. Nora won’t deny that Luke has been their way out of it. He paid off all her loans, sent her younger siblings to university, bought her family a house and still sends them handsome monthly deposits. But he’s never tried to use it to shame her until now.

“You heard me, Nora. And you better not call that cunt too.”

****

Nora calls Aurel at 9:30 am the next morning. She had woken up, cleaned the house as best she could and made herself a smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel with a cup of mint tea. She only contemplated for five minutes before dialing his number.

“Aurelien.” His voice finally comes through after the fourth ring. Nora’s posture automatically straightens; there’s just something about the deep rumble of his voice.

“Um, hi- good morning rather. It’s um, Nora, the- from last night- the gala.” Nora pinches her leg harshly in embarrassment.

“Nora, I’m glad you called. I was worried he would intimidate you into changing your mind.”

“I can’t say he didn’t try. Um” she clears her throat harshly; “When’s a good time for our meeting? I’m pretty much free all of this week.” Almost all the time since I’m nothing more than a trophy wife.

“Well, could you get here in three hours?”

Nora’s brain screeches to halt.

“Um, today?”

“Yes. If you’re free and I’m available right now. I wouldn’t want to put it off and something spontaneously comes up, you never know in my world. Plus I don’t spend a lot of time in the office.” He responds.

“Oh, well, yes I could make the trip down.”

“Good. I’m sure you have a business proposal- take it with you. Also, prepare two dishes, one sweet, one savory.”

“Oh? Today?” Nora asks in panic.

“Yes. I’m sure you’ll impress me. Won’t you, Nora?”

Nora’s lower belly clenches at the tone of his voice and his words.

“I’ll try my best.” She responds breathily.

“I know you will, see you soon.”

The line goes dead and Nora sucks in a much needed breath. She knows this is a bad idea. Entering any kind of arrangement with a man that has this kind of effect on her can’t be smart. Her phone dings with a notification. It’s from Aurel: the exact address of his office. Fuck, should I?

***********

“Watch it!” She hisses at the passerby who collides into her shoulder. She clutches the containers in her hands tighter.

“Move out of the damn way!” The man fires back.

And she can’t argue with that. She has been standing in the middle of the sidewalk, looking up at the tall, intimidating building for about five minutes now.

“Fuck it, just do it.” She whispers harshly to herself. Nora sucks in a deep breath, squares her shoulders and marches through the revolving doors of A.D.T Investments. The receptionist smiles warmly at her.

“Welcome, how may I help you?” The petite woman asks cheerily.

“Um, I’m here to see Mr. Tchouameni?” It comes out as a question rather than a statement.

“Oh! Do you have an appointment?”

“Um, I think so. My name is Nora, we spoke earlier.”

The woman checks something on the desktop before frowning.

“I’m sorry, I’m not seeing an appointment with Nora here.”

“Well, call him.” Nora pleads with her eyes. She’s not sure why he wouldn’t have informed her of their meeting. Is it that he forgot? Maybe he also thinks your idea is a joke and brought you here for a laugh?

The woman sighs but picks up the phone at her desk and enters a few digits.

“Hi Mr. Tchouameni, there’s a Nora here claiming tha- oh, I’ll send her up right away.” The woman places the phone down and smiles bashfully up at her.

“Apologies, he forgot to tell me because he has been in meetings all morning, you may go up. Last floor. He should inform his secretary so you should be fine just knocking on his door.”

“Thank you so much.” Nora takes another deep breath to try calming the wild rhythm of her heart as she enters the elevator. The doors close and she finds herself staring at her reflection in the shiny silver surface. Her hair is as it was last night; the business casual long sleeve cream cropped top paired with the brown pencil high waisted skirt and nude louboutin heels. Am I overdressed? Did I purposely try to look good because I want… no! She shakes the thought from her head, she’s a married woman. A married woman who’s going against her husband’s wishes. She doesn’t have time to spiral as the doors slide open and she’s greeted by an older ginger haired woman.

“Hello, Ms. Nora, right this way please.”

Nora returns her smile and follows the woman past her desk area to the huge oak door with the initials of his name on it. The lady gives four rhythmic knocks against the door before twisting the knob and stepping aside for Nora.

“Thank you.” She whispers to her as she steps into what feels like the lion’s den. Except you actually want to be eaten by this lion. The door closing behind her brings her out her head and she finally looks at the man behind his desk. Ugh. The desk is not small by any means but he still somehow manages to take up so much space. His office space is clean, spacious and there’s ceiling to floor glass windows that gives a perfect view of the bustling streets of New York.

“Hi.” Nora blinks at him shyly, fighting the urge to fidget.

The man stands and rounds his desk, beckoning her closer. She obediently walks closer to his desk, gently placing her containers on the dark mahogany furniture.

“Welcome, Nora. I’m glad you came. Have a seat.” He says smoothly with a smirk tilting the corner of his plump mouth. She sits in the chair he pulls out for her before walking back around to his side of the table.

“How are you, Nora?”

“Um, I'm a bit nervous.” She admits softly.

“Why? Don’t be.”

“It’s hard not to be after being ridiculed about this so often.” She responds dejectedly.

“Hey, it’s me, just me and you. I wouldn’t have called you here if I thought it was silly. Breathe for me and we’ll begin when you’re ready.” His eyes are so tender that she melts against the chair. Her body warms from head to feet.

“Okay, thank you. Um..” she rifles through her bag for the portfolio she had been secretly creating. Every single time she organized one of Luke’s events she would capture her work, still holding onto the belief that he would one day give her a chance. She does have some access to Luke’s money but he watches her every move, monitors her spending habits. Nora hands the folder over to him.

“There’s a mini proposal in there along with some of my work.” She shifts around in her seated position as he carefully rifles through the papers.

“Nora’s Nectar huh?” He questions with a smile.

She ducks her head shyly. “Um, yea. I specialize mainly in desserts so I thought it fitting. But I’m good at savory dishes too!”

“I must say, your food looks good, Nora. And these are large events. Do you prep and cook everything by yourself?”

“Um no, my three best friends help out but I pay them obviously. I guess you can think of them as my sous chefs. They take charge of some savory dishes following my recipes but I handle the pastries by myself.” She picks at the fabric of her skirt as he keeps looking through her work.

“I’m impressed by what I’m seeing so far, Nora. Did you bring me samples?”

Nora nods a little too quickly but she’s shaking. She had spent most of the time in her kitchen pacing. She then decided to make a quick lobster bisque with butter poached lobster tails and cupcakes. She at first worried that cupcakes would be too basic, but she’s glad she decided to do it. It provided her the opportunity to showcase her versatility with three different flavors in the dozen as well as boast her decorative skills.

“Um yes” Nora carefully unboxes the cupcakes first; “I did cupcakes, three different flavors. The ones on the left are a vanilla sponge with strawberry and mint frosting; the middle ones are a drunken chocolate and salted caramel and the ones on the right are my take on a tiramisu.”

“Fucking hell, Nora. Pardon my language but you made these with your hands? They look straight out of a 3D printer or something.”

Her cheeks warm and she mutters a shy ‘thank you’ as the man reaches for a chocolate one. He scarfs it down in two big bites and she can’t help but giggle.

“Wow, the flavour pairing is obviously smart but the part that I love the most is how rich the chocolate is without being overly sweet. I usually can’t stand desserts because of how sweet but-” he cuts himself off to reach for a vanilla one which he treats much like the first he tried.

“Your husband is a fucking idiot.” He says with a straight face.

Nora laughs softly with a shrug.

“I guess he is.”

“No, he is. I’m all in. I don’t even have to taste that bisque, I had some of the dishes at the gala so I know what you’re about. We have a lot to discuss of course but in the meantime.” He pauses to pull something up on the laptop on his desk. He turns the device in her direction for her to see his screen. It seems to be some invitation of some kind.

“I’m organizing a little party, about 80 people; apparently, it’s good for keeping good rapport or whatever since expanding my business in new territory. I’ll need someone to handle catering. This party will have a lot of important people who also like to host their own events. Are you in, Nora?” He pins her with his gaze.

Nora gasps. She knows what that means, the doors that can open for her even before she properly gets her business going.

“I would love to.” She breathes out.

“Good. It’s next Saturday. You have free reign over the menu- I trust you. How much?”

Her brain malfunctions and she’s sure it shows in the way she’s gaping like a fish out of water. She has never been paid for her services before. She’s not even the one who usually buys the ingredients, she would just make a list of the things she’d need and Luke had one of the many people he has hired get them so she can’t even give an estimate based on the cost of shopping.

“How about 50k?” Aurel suggests.

“That’s too much!” Nora is sure of it.

“Doesn’t matter. You deserve a big tip anyway.” His eyes roam every inch of her face; she ducks her head shyly.

“Okay, thank you.”

“We should have lunch… to celebrate of course.” The man hurriedly tacks on the last few words after the wide eyed expression on her face.

“Oh. Um, I could eat.”

Nora knows this is a bad idea. It’s bad enough she came here to meet with him, but accepting his lunch invitation is walking on a tightrope- she has to be careful.

*********************

Lunch went surprisingly well. Aurel took her for sushi at a small, modest Japanese restaurant. It was too intimate for her liking with the low lights and booth seating but he didn’t make it awkward at all. In fact, he made her laugh so hard at one point she spat green tea on the table. Nora was so embarrassed but he loved it. He teased her about it all throughout the remainder of their lunch and on their way back to the office in his car.

“Are you ready?” Aurelien widens his eyes comically at her with a smile on his mouth. Nora giggles at his antics.

“It’s just signing some papers, stop trying to make me nervous.” She whines.

“Maybe this is also a contract that binds your soul to me.” The man wiggles his eyebrows. He’s clearly teasing but it makes Nora pause a little. She obviously does not believe it will literally bind her soul but it makes her really think about the possibilities of doing business with him. They’ll be in contact often. She’ll see him often; it’s no secret that the man thinks she’s attractive and she’s not sure how strongly he feels but she knows what she’s feeling. Every second she spends in his presence causes her mind to wander, causes her heart to race, makes her tummy flutter, makes her…

“It was a joke, Nora.” Aurel’s voice cuts through her thoughts. She looks up to find the amusement gone from his face, replaced with concern.

“Oh no, I know- it’s just I…” she trails off, eyes darting around his office.

“What, Nora? If you need more time to think about it, take it. Take all the time you need, baby.”

Nora gasps, fixing her scandalous eyes on him. She expects to find some amount of regret but the man doesn’t look fazed at all.

“Did you- I-”

“Why are you still with him?” He suddenly asks with narrowed eyes.

“That’s- not, he’s my husband.” Nora finishes lamely. Aurel chuckles as he stands from his chair. He walks around his desk to stand over her seated form. Nora cranes her head to look up at him then down at his outstretched hand. She places her hand in his after a moment of hesitation. He gently hauls her to her feet.

“You look so beautiful.” He brings the pad of his thumb to rub at her cheek. “Did he tell you that today?”

“Aurel, don’t do this to me,” she whines pleadingly.

“Did he, Nora?” His thumb trails down to her neck to tenderly rub at her warm skin.

Nora closes her eyes but shakes her head.

“Idiot. I’d tell you every single morning. I would probably still be in the house showing you just how beautiful I think you are. I’d be late to the office or to training every single day but I wouldn’t care. Look how pretty you are, hm? And you smell just like that salted caramel you drizzled on those cakes.” Nora presses her body closer to his, the rich baritone of his voice just as hypnotizing as his words. She’s embarrassed by how quickly her nipples are tightening beneath her bra. He tilts her head up and leans down closer just to breathe in the air from her open, panting mouth. He gently presses his lips against hers, just touching, teasing. Her lip gloss smudges against his own mouth.

“Aurel, I shouldn’t. I’m married.” Nora sounds like she’s trying to convince herself.

“Let’s pretend you aren’t when you’re with me, hm?.” Then he captures her lips in a proper kiss.

Nora responds eagerly; pressing her chest into his body and whimpering into his hot, commanding mouth.

“Wait! W-wait” she manages to breathe out. Aurelien immediately pulls his mouth away but still occupies her personal space. He cups her face with both his big, warm hands that are a little calloused.

“I- are you…” Nora gulps looking away from the intensity of his gaze. “Are you only investing in my idea because you are attracted to me?” She whispers meekly.

“No. It’s clear you’re not familiar with our world enough but I… I have quite a reputation for taking on ventures no one else wants. I just- I like to give people chances because nobody did that for me. It just so happens that we’re all lucky enough for them to take off-”

Nora tunes out the rest of his rambling. She didn’t think it was possible but he actually managed to make her more attracted to him. Her body moves as if on autopilot until she finds herself on her knees. Aurel suddenly stops speaking; eyes trained on her. He sucks in a sharp breath when she leans her face directly into his crotch to take a deep inhale. She shivers, the musk of him so incredible it makes her mouth water.

“Nora?” He calls out gruffly.

“Wanna…want it. Please?” She looks up at him beneath her lashes, making her eyes as doe like as possible. He closes his eyes, clenching his jaw slightly.

“Putain… take what you need, baby.”

******************

Nora is upset. She’s surprised she even made it home in one piece driving with tears clouding her vision the entire time. Even now, hours later, as she lies curled in a ball on her bed, she can’t stop crying. Not because of guilt. Nora can’t remember the last time she was so… eager to be on her knees for a man. She can’t remember the last time a man had looked at her with so much reverence. He told her she was the most beautiful woman in the world, even with her mouth stretched to its limit with him between her lips, even with tears and drool making a mess of her makeup. He looked so so good when he came in her mouth and he kissed her all the same. When the haze had lifted, Nora had signed the papers as if they would disappear if she didn’t get it done in seconds, then she dashed out his office before he could even say goodbye. But the strange part, the part that’s making her so upset is that she doesn’t feel guilty at all. She just wants to do it again and again and again and again. And that terrifies her. It terrifies her so much because she has always imagined her life with Luke; she’s scared to even consider starting over. And then start over with who? For all she knows she’s nothing more than a thrill for Aurel. Sneaking around with an attractive married woman- especially the wife of Luke Spence- The entrepreneur.

“You went out today.” Luke suddenly appears in the doorway of their bedroom.

“Since when am I not allowed to go out?” She asks pretending to be engrossed in whatever is playing on the tv screen.

“Where did you go?”

She narrows her eyes at his tense form brooding in the doorway.

“Why do you care?” It’s been almost two years since Luke actually cared to ask her anything about… anything.

“You went to see him, didn’t you?” Luke's eyes are slits on his face.

“Yes.” She’s surprised she didn’t even hesitate with her response; but she feels that if she lied she would just twist herself into a circle until she bit her own tail.

“Nora I told yo-”

“I don’t care, Luke. I have a dream and one person wants to help me achieve it and you want me to miss the opportunity over what? Your petty dislike of him?”

“He’s everything wrong with the business world! He’s a fucking athlete! What does a footballer know about fucking business? The smug prick…Business is not charity! He just thinks he’s so much better than everyone, investing in college kids and people from inner city communities, building orphanages, he’s so pretentious! I know he’s not what he’s presenting to-”

“Are you jealous?” Nora can’t help the way her mouth twists in disgust. She’s seen Luke act like this before back in university when he thought her classmate had a crush on her.

“What?!”

“You’re jealous. As if you can’t just… do what he does too! You have the money for it.” She laughs incredulously. Nora is completely disgusted by the way he spoke about people who are less privileged. He has only recently started too and she can’t help but wonder how he now feels about her and her family.

“I’m not jealous of him! Everything about him is just so… sketchy. He won that business mogul of the year award last year when I deserved it fo-”

There’s a ringing that keeps growing in pitch in Nora’s ears as she tunes out his rant in pure anger. She wants so badly in the moment to be spiteful. To tell him how much more of a man Aurelien is than he ever will be, to tell him how she had his dick so far down her throat, stretching her plump lips to the point of-

“Are you even listening to me?!”

Nora’s vision refocuses on Luke’s face that’s patchy with red spots and his eyes are wide with anger.

“No. I’m going for a swim.”

She walks around his frozen form in the doorway to head in their backyard.

******************

“I sucked Aurelien’s dick.”

The metal mixing bowl clatters on the floor from Phoebe’s hands. The kitchen would be in complete silence if it weren’t for the blender going off with a frozen Marcelle in front of the appliance.

“Bitch?!” Sasha yells with glee dancing in her eyes.

Nora groans, dropping her head on the counter with a thud.

“Ugh, Nora. Now we’ll have to clean the counter again before we start working on the pastry dough.” Phoebe says with a pout on her full lips. Her petite, red headed friend stoops to pick up the mixing bowl she dropped earlier.

“Well?! Spill the tea, sis!” Marcelle urges after switching the blender off. He cocks his hip to the side with a smirk on his gorgeous face. Marcelle wears a full face of makeup no matter the occasion- even if they’re going to the pool in her backyard. His dark skin is always glowing just like his pearly set of perfect white teeth.

“Stop that!” She hisses at his smirking face.

“What? That man ain’t here and won’t be for another 6 hours and by then we’ll be long gone-” Marcelle cuts himself with a dramatic gasp. “You’re seeing him again later!”

Yes. Nora is seeing Aurelien again this evening. He had sent a text message well into the night after the incident in his office asking if she was okay but Nora didn’t reply. She had told her friends about the man but left out the explicit details. Her friends were eager to help her with the catering for his party later and were so excited about her finally getting the opportunity to start her business.

“I googled. Do you know how big of a deal he is? Both in football and the business world. This man plays for a Spanish juggernaut club. I knew you said you found him attractive but I didn’t think you meant ‘suck his dick on your second meeting’ fine.” Sasha teases with a sly smile on her lips. Sasha would be her twin if the woman was a few inches taller and slightly slimmer.

“Guys…” Nora whines

“What? Honestly, fuck Luke. It’s bad enough he became neglectful but those snide comments about your background and the less fortunate? I’m celebrating your divorce like I won the lottery.” Sasha mutters not looking up from the onions she dices.

“Mhmm.” Phoebe and Marcelle both hum in agreement. That’s a little inside habit they do in the friend group since they met in their culinary arts classes.

“Let’s just finish up. I’d hate to fall behind schedule.” Nora says with a sigh. She knows the chaos opening this can of worms will cause.

********************

It’s a house. A very, modern, luxury house painted in shades of dark grey and black and is made up of a lot of floor to ceiling glass. It’s straight out of any wealthy bachelor’s wet dreams. But Nora is confused because this is the address Aurelien sent her. She expected the party to be held at some hotel like she’s used to or something but never a house.

“Are you sure we have the right address?” Nora directs the question at Phoebe who’s behind the wheel.

“Yes, I put the exact address in my gps.” Her friend responds as she pulls into the driveway. The gate was left open and Nora is just hoping they haven’t driven onto some stranger’s property.

“Wow, I need me a rich man too.” Marcelle whispers in awe, taking in the expanse of the property. From the well kept lawn, the water fountain and the paved driveway, everything screams affluent. Phoebe parks the van directly in front of the mini steps that lead to the front door.

“Go on.” Sasha encourages.

Nora takes a deep breath before hopping out of the van to climb the steps with shaky legs. She’s about to reach for the doorbell when the door swings open. Aurel. He’s clearly in the process of getting dressed because he already has on a pair of dark green slacks and a white button down shirt that still has the first few buttons undone. Nora wants to scream at how good he looks, at how good he smells.

“Nora.” He greets politely though there’s a tick to his jaw. She looks to her sneaker clad feet bashfully knowing it has something to do with her ignoring his message.

“Hi.”

He opens the door wider, stepping to the side.

“Come set up in the backyard patio.”

Nora looks back at the van to find her friends outside, jaws literally hanging staring at the man who has been tormenting her every waking moment since they met. She can’t even chastise them; he’s even more breathtaking in person.

***

They manage to set up thirty minutes before the scheduled time. They’re all wearing shirts with “Nora’s Nectar” embroidered on them with jeans and she thought it was a good idea; it shows professionalism and it’s good promo for her business. But as the guests start pouring in with their suits and gowns she can’t help but fidget.

“Now bitch, you didn’t tell us he has charisma like this! Look at the smirk.” Sasha hisses quietly so that only their friend group can hear over the music.

“Wow, I get it. I would’ve swallowed him up too.”

Nora gasps at those words leaving Phoebe’s mouth. She’s usually more reserved so it’s definitely frightening.

“Mhmm, Nora girl tell me if you don’t want him beca-”

“Alright!” She cuts off Marcelle. “Let’s just focus on doing our jobs. He paid me very handsomely.”

“Mhmmm, very handsomely indeed.” Sasha mutters and they all snicker.

****

The night is going really well. They have received compliments from at least 20 guests and she has handed out 11 business cards so far. She can’t help but feel that this is the start of something huge for her and she can’t be more grateful to Aurélien. She immediately seeks him out with her eyes for the umpteenth time tonight. Sasha is right, he is charismatic. The way he moves, he commands attention, he makes people laugh, he’s so… Nora freezes. She tries not to stare too long but she can’t help it. The woman he’s with is striking, gorgeous; and the way he looks at her with his hands gently brushing at her waist to whisper against the shell of her ear is making Nora feel ill.

“I must say, I never expected something as simple as codfish and shrimp to be so good. How much for the recipe?” A middle aged woman steals her attention. Nora returns the chuckle and it must be muscle memory of some kind because her brain is short circuiting in her head.

“Are you prepared to pay millions?”

The woman throws her head back with a laugh at Nora’s teasing question and it gives her enough time to swing her eyes in his direction again. This time, he’s already staring at her but he’s still in the woman’s personal space.

“Do you have a business card my dear?” The woman asks between giggles. Nora forces a smile and hands the woman one from the pile in her pocket.

“I hope to hear from you.”

“You will.” The woman promises with a wink before turning to mingle with the others again.

“Hey Sasha, I need a bathroom break. Take over for a while.” Her friend nods, none the wiser to her inner turmoil and Nora heads inside the house towards the direction of the bathroom that Aurel gave them earlier. Nora spends at least 15 minutes in the bathroom just pacing and chastising herself before washing her hands and exiting. She’s heading down the hall to go back downstairs when she’s hauled into a room by the crook of her elbow. The door is slammed shut before she can blink and then she’s face to face with an annoyed looking Aurelien.

“What was that look all about?” He grumbles out the question.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Best get back to your lover before she starts searching for you.” Nora doesn’t mean to pout but she does.

The man scoffs incredulously.

“You’re jealous? You’ve been ignoring me and you have the nerve to be jealous?”

“What do you want me to do, Aurel?” She whines the question out because she genuinely wants answers. How do you deny yourself of something you crave so badly to uphold vows you swore? Tears prick at her eyes just seeing him there, glaring at her, looking so fucking good and all she can think about is how desperately she wants- no- how desperately she needs him.

“What do you want, Nora?” He asks calmly.

“Luke is all I know. He’s my first everything and I-”

“Nora, what do you want?” He interrupts her rambling with an edge to his voice. What do you want?

“I- you. So badly it physically aches. These past couple of days, no matter how many times I try to see Luke behind my closed eyes with my hands between my thighs it’s just… you, your hands on me, you inside me, your name on my lips as I-” Nora cuts herself off with a harsh bite to her bottom lip. Aurel’s nostrils flare, but that’s the only reaction he gives for a while. Then, he slowly brings his hands to the button of his suit jacket. Nora watches tensely as he removes it and tosses it carelessly to the floor. Then he moves to unbuckle his belt, pulling his tucked in shirt free when his belt is loose enough. Her breathing picks up harshly, understanding dawning on her. She turns her pleading eyes up at him; one final attempt at ‘please don’t make me do this’ even though she doesn’t say the words because she wants to. She watches his deft fingers work the buttons of his shirt easily, discarding it in the same manner he did his jacket. Nora stays locked in place as he kicks his shoes off and strips away every single article of clothing. He’s very obviously an athlete. His chest is broad, muscles visible on every inch of his upper body. From the visible biceps, his well defined six pack… her eyes drift between his legs and she swallows around the lump in her throat. He’s so well endowed it’s fucking ridiculous. How was she ever to stand a chance?

Nora looks up at him shyly and bodily shivers at the intensity of his gaze. Challenging.

She gulps but reaches for the hem of her shirt to lift over head. She shimmies out her tight jeans and hurries to get rid of her bra and panties before insecurity strikes. She shivers, hand automatically reaching up to cover her chest. Thank fuck I never skip wax appointments despite not getting laid.

The man slowly stalks in her direction, pausing when he’s a couple inches away to stoop a bit and lock his arms around the back of her knees. Aurel picks her up with ease and Nora’s breath stutters but she doesn’t break eye contact as he moves them towards his bed.

*****

Nora is shaking. Not only because he made her come so hard in his mouth moments ago, but because she’s so intimidated by his size as well as the fact that she’s about to have someone else apart from Luke inside her. Her eyes dart nervously between his as she straddles his lap, waiting for him to roll the condom on. Fuck. His hands rub up and down her back.

“Relax baby.” He mutters softly, mouth still glistening.

“I- okay.” She whispers softly.

“Look at me, sweetheart.”

She obeys; his eyes are so beautiful and they hold such tenderness her breath audibly stutters. The man eases her up a few inches from his lap, his hand reaching between them to line himself with where she’s warm and dripping. Inviting. Nora gives a high pitched whine feeling the way he stretches her so deliciously as she’s gingerly seated on his cock. Aurel grunts lowly in his chest, the vibration dancing beneath her palms.

“I knew you’d feel good Nora but never like this.” He manages to get through gritted teeth when he sheathes himself as far inside her as her body will allow.

“Aurel…” She moans his name helplessly.

He’s so big, she’s so full- the slight twinge she feels in her lower belly indicating he’s reaching depths that shouldn’t be allowed. But it’s so fucking good.

“You’re so gorgeous.” He starts pumping his hips, setting a lazy rhythm.

She digs her nails into the tightly coiled muscles of his shoulders. Nora closes her eyes, her mouth open and panting. She’s so wet but Aurel is so girthy that there’s still a little friction, it’s supposed to be uncomfortable but it just scratches an itch she didn’t even know she had; there’s something about the slight pinch of pain that heightens the pleasure so much that her toes curl. Nora gets so lost in the feeling that she begins moving her own hips. She matches his languid pace at first, but not for long when the pleasure begins to caress every inch of her skin; from the tips of her tingling toes to her burning face.

“Shit, Nora. Look at you.” Aurelien groans and stills his own hips. Watching the way she begins riding him in abandon. Her eyes are squeezed tightly shut, silent staccato moans pouring from her mouth.

“You needed this didn’t you? When was the last time he fucked you, baby?”

Nora is a mess as she nods then shakes her head in quick succession, trying to respond to both his questions at once as the orgasm bubbles under the surface of her skin.

“Answer me, Nora. When was the last time?” The man caresses her arms, then her breasts, fingers teasing her sensitive brown peaks.

“I- long! So long! I don’t know” she desperately sobs.

“Fucking idiot.”

The man plants his feet into the floor and drills his hips up with such intent.

“I’m going to come! Please Aurel, please, please, please.”

“Oh fuck. Next time I’m not using a condom baby. Look how wet you are, hm? I can hear it. Next time I want to feel all of you.”

It’s a promise. Next time. He makes his intentions very clear, this won’t be a one time thing.

His commanding voice sends her hurtling over the edge and Nora is grateful that the music downstairs is loud because she screams as if she’s being murdered. No wonder the French call orgasms what they do. Petite Mort(the little death). Nora knows she’s conscious, but the only thing she feels is mind-numbing pleasure. It robs her of her senses completely. When her senses return with a ringing in her ear, she finds him staring at her as if awestruck.

“Beautiful.” He captures her trembling lips in a kiss.

“I’m not done with you though, Nora.”

Shit.

*************

Aurelien finally comes with a guttural groan after putting her in every position invented. Nora can only moan weakly, clawing at his naked back to hug him close with her legs folded by her ears. She has never experienced anything like this; sure sex with Luke was good but he’s never managed to get multiple orgasms out of her. And the way he talks? Fuck, Nora didn’t even know she was into that but Aurel could get her off with just his words alone. Especially when he switches to French.

“We have to get back to the party.” Aurel whispers when their breathing gets more even.

“Don’t want to.” She whines.

Aurelien chuckles and pecks her lips.

“I know baby, but we have to.”

“When are you leaving him?” Aurel suddenly asks.

“I- I… I don’t know.”

“You’re not happy. Maybe it’s about financial security, but I know your business will take off. After tonight, you’ll be booked and busy. Leave him.” He urges, using a thumb to rub at the apple of her cheek.

“It’s not just about that. We’ve been together for so long and I don’t know what you really want. For all I know this could be some fantasy that yo-”

“You’re not just some fantasy, Nora. I want more.”

“And how do I know you’re being sincere?” She asks timidly.

“Get rid of your good for nothing husband and you’ll find out.”

He chuckles as she playfully slaps at his shoulder with a small smile.

She stares into his solemn brown eyes as she contemplates. Aurelien is right. The amount of cards she handed out downstairs, to clearly wealthy clientele means job security. She’s going to make a lot of money doing something she loves and the man before her made that a possibility. Not her husband, even though he has more than enough money to make it happen. Not her husband who’s starting to throw all he has done for her in her face.

Fuck Luke. Even if it doesn’t work out with Aurélien, she can’t stay with Luke anymore. And Aurélien is more than worth taking the leap for.

“Okay.”

[johnnyxwagner]

starter for @norasinclair​ location: the wagner house 

“How’s Noah been holding up?” He had heard the man suffered from a broken arm. Inviting Nora over for coffee wasn’t unusual for the man, considering he didn’t have to teach classes until later in the afternoon that day. “Can I get you anything else besides coffee?” He raised a brow as he set her coffee down on the table for her. “Stevie brought home some goods from the cafe,” in which he always told his soon to be wife that she was trying to fatten him up from all the baked goods she kept in the house. 

[webcricket]

Thursday’s Child

Pairing: CastielXReader Word Count: 2759 (Pt. 1) Summary: Part 1 of 5 - You met Castiel during his stint at being human and knew him as Steve, a sweet, albeit mysterious, man working at the local Gas-N-Sip with sad blue eyes that seemed to light up in your presence. That was eight years ago; now the daughter he fathered during your brief time together - the girl he doesn’t know about because he stole from your bed without a word and slipped out of your life before you knew you were pregnant - is asking for him. You realize, for her sake, it’s time to face the painful truth in order to find him. A/N - Part 1 is an angsty intro to the reader, the next part brings us up to speed on where Cas is at ...

Pt. 1

You walked into the Gas-N-Sip onto a scene a match stick strike short of complete chaos. Beyond the sea of customers waiting at the counter, the grumbled volume of their impatience rising like a storm’s tide breaking on a rocky shore, you saw not the blue-eyed sales associate you sought for, but the ragged figure of the manager, Nora, as she slammed her fist against the side of the cash register to compel its cooperation.

The machine spat its contents out in a metallic ding barely audible above the thunder of discontent. Nora flung a handful of crumpled bills at the gaping man stood before her and waved him toward the door with his uncapped cup of cold coffee without a word regarding well wishes for the goodness of the day.

The frazzled blonde jabbed a finger at her temple, peered blankly over the counter, and muttered, “Can I help whose next?” in a manner that made whomsoever was next dither in presenting themselves for customer service slaughter, and two people leave without getting the gasoline they came for - one of whom had trudged there on foot through the snow uphill in a pair of threadbare tangerine Converse after their car ran out of juice three miles down the road.

As the sea swelled in murmured confusion over who was next, you dove into the crush of shoulders and shoved a path through to the front.

Pressed into the counter, you jostled a carousel display of novelty keychains, the inconvenient disturbance of which, more than your voice, caught Nora’s strained attention. “Nora!” you panted. Caging the scattering of metal rings within your elbows to prevent their clattering to the floor, you ignored the nicotine-husked scolding of a wrinkled weather-worn woman sounding in your ear about cutting the line.

“Y/N?” A flicker of hope lightened Nora’s craggy sleep-deprived aspect at the sight of you. “Have you seen Steve?” Clutching at your wrist, she asked the desperate-toned question before you could, unknowingly answering yours in its sameness. “He hasn’t been in for two days. No call out. Nothing. That’s not like him.”

Cheeks paling, you agreed – conscientious to a fault, it wasn’t like him at all to just disappear.

The sickly sense of suspicion festering in your stomach during the last forty-eight hours that began upon waking to empty sheets and fattened itself not on food, because you’d barely eaten under the barrage of worried emotions, but rather fed on a gluttony of unreturned calls and texts, shuddered and flipped with enough weight to unsteady your feet; wrist yanked from her grip, you flattened your palm to the front of your jeans as an awareness of imminent ill shot sour bile up your gullet.

You shook your head; taking a second, you choked back the throat-searing fluid and fortified your dizzied balance against the confirmation he had indeed gone without a trace. “N-no, I haven’t-” you sputtered- “I-I was hoping-”

Cutting you off, unable to hear anything beyond the unhelpful news of your weakly uttered ‘No,’ frustration rutted her sweat-beaded forehead. “Well when you do see him, tell him he’s fired. He left me in the middle of a mess of inventory and I haven’t had anyone to open. For fuck’s sake, it’s the holidays! I’m in a real lurch here.” Wheezing to reach for the final bit of breath required to bellow out her contained fury, she gestured at the crowd and flashed the one or two nearest folks shocked by her expletive outburst a conciliatory service industry contrived smile.

“If-if you see him-” you attempted to request the returned favor through the burst levy of her rage as the woman spewing insults about your impudence wedged between you and the counter to demand immediate attention. Funneled in defeat to the center of the store, you broke for the bathroom before the wet brim of heartache flooded your lashes and a renewed heave of nausea hollowed your belly of its fill of woe.

<<<>>> 

“Mama?” The girl outfitted in pastel blue and magenta feather-bedecked fleece footie pajamas curled on the bed beside you stirred sleepily in the crook of your arm; the friction of her minute movements and dry forced heat air of winter combined sparked a static shock where the soft warmth of her bare fingers brushed your own calloused cooler ones.

“Yeah, honeybee?” Swiveling your concentration from the pages of the storybook held above the both of you, you closed the pages and sniffed your reply ticklishly into the freshly washed soap-smell of your daughter’s scalp – the scent of her a welcome haven from the heady aromas clinging to you of yeasted bread, warmed spice, and browned sugar that otherwise denoted a hectic day spent toiling in the bakery and sweet shop you operated below the small apartment.

She squirmed and giggled beneath your unrelenting Eskimo kisses until, fidgeting sideways to evade and escape, she squealed mid-laugh a query so completely unrelated to the book you’d been reading aloud minutes before it took you aback. “Where’s daddy?”

Her innocent and wholly natural curiosity stilled your showering of affection, seized at the center of your chest to steal your breath, and skipped your heart a few agonizing beats, but only a few; you’d grown emotionally numb over many years to the hurt of not knowing what happened with her father, of trying to reconcile your questions with a lack of answers in order to figure out what you did wrong, if anything, to warrant Steve’s disappearance from your life – and his own - without a goodbye, a warning, or so much as an inkling of a reason.

Although you tried and mostly succeeded in tidily boxing up the train wreck aftermath of emotion in your brain, he remained nonetheless an enigma forever in front of you because she was his; she wore his smile, albeit a bit easier and more often than he did; she saw the world through that same shade of inwardly illuminated blue, giving everyone she gazed upon the benefit of the doubt; she treated everything she touched, too, with a kindness, carefulness, and consideration so like him.

He endured even in his absence as an end without an end - the only proofs of the brief love-swept spell of him having been in your life a blunted memory stonewashed by time to dull the jagged edge of loss in believing he was the best thing to ever happen to you, and the life he sparked in your womb, a little girl who turned out to be what he wasn’t – the love of your life.

Yet despite the distance of years and the layers of a life well-lived laid on top of past pain, and like the first time you met him, every once in a while, when you least expected it, in moments when you were most relaxed, his recollection had a way of taking you by surprise such that you forgot how to breathe.

Her inquisitiveness, however, did not; she asked after him on occasion, especially now that she was in school and of an age to notice and wonder at the differences between her family and those of her classmates.

“Max has two daddies.”

Her observation, spoken in an airy awe punctuated by a yawn, penetrated your reverie into the past.

“That so?” Shifting up onto an elbow to better study the seriousness scrunching up her nose, you smoothed her disheveled hair into a chestnut halo of bouncy ringlets encircling her head on the polka dot patterned pillowcase; your fingertips fondly followed a wild whorl rebelling above her ear.

“Mm-hmm,” she drowsily drew out the noise, blinking heavily-lashed eyes that danced over the neon glow of star stickers arranged in constellations on the ceiling. With a mumbled, “and a dog, too” -she tossed the blanket, burrowed face-first into the pillow, and fell soundly asleep.

Staying absolutely motionless, you praised in grateful silence the sudden seizure of slumber children are wont to succumb to for temporarily relieving you from an explanation; whatever she dreamed of would be better than the reality of not knowing you had to offer.

You slipped from the bed and into the hallway, flicking lights off as you walked the worn oriental carpet runner to your bedroom, and found yourself standing in front of the closet digging for a shoebox stuffed in the topmost corner behind a stack of spare sheets.

Extricating the box with a grunt, you sunk to the floor, pushed off the lid, and dumped the contents, those few physical scraps you possessed of Steve - notes, snapshots, and the crumbling petals of a pressed red rose he left behind besides the scars on your heart and her - into your lap.

Last season, perched on Santa’s lap at the mall, your daughter told the falsely bearded jolly supplier of holiday spirit and maker of childhood magic she wanted him to bring her daddy home for Christmas. The pitying frowns donned by Saint Nick and his helper elf upon hearing her request haunted you for weeks afterward. The bright pink bike you bought to place under the tree as her big gift that year seemed a paltry substitute for what she really longed for.

It also prompted you to hire a private investigator to track Steve down. You hadn’t looked for him before then – you’d gotten on just fine without him; but it was becoming clear she needed to know him, if not as the father figure she idealized, at least as a means for both of you to get some kind of closure.

Part of you supposed regardless of why he left he should know he had a daughter and it was unfair - however unfairly he’d treated you - to keep her to yourself when you’d created her together. Whether he wanted to be a part of her life once he knew he’d not only deserted you, but left you knocked up, heartbroken, jobless, and in deep debt holding a newly minted mortgage for a building in need of major renovations before you could bake up that first batch of blueberry scones and realize a long-imagined dream – a dream he inspired you to pursue - would be entirely up to him.

Maybe you’d hesitated to look for so long because you felt he would want to be in your lives out of a sense of obligation rather than any emotive attachment of fatherly feeling; whatever had happened, the Steve you loved was a good man – dutiful of responsibilities to a fault. But Steve chose to leave and you wondered if he’d feel more trapped than anything if he knew there was a child; that he would be there like a hare snagged in a hunter’s snare awaiting fate, but that he wouldn’t want to be there.

In terms of fairness, that consequence wouldn’t be fair to any of you.

You eyed the sealed legal-sized manila envelope folded in half and jammed in the bottom of the emptied box. The part of you that preferred not knowing and defaulted to pigeonholing pain instead of dealing with it stuck it in there a month ago when the backlogged and grandfatherly private investigator working for literal beans of the brewed coffee variety and a weekly doughnut delivery as a personal favor to you got around to handing his findings over along with the kindly-intended counsel that he’d uncovered enough of the big picture to deem the case concluded, and it was up to you to decide whether it was worth hunting the guy down for a face-to-face to fill in the remainder of the damnable details.

Tucking the document into your outstretched hand – the fingers suffering from a nervy tremble no amount of suppressive will would quiet - he strongly cautioned against the latter pursuit of an in person meet up on the basis of having had decades of not so positive experience with quote unquote, “This same sort of dead beat dodging child support.”

Bolstering your resolve to learn the truth with a lungful of air, you slid a finger into the glue affixed gap of the envelope; the flap sliced your flesh as you tore into the paper. Soothing the slash against the warmth of your tongue, you slipped free the sheets within and rotated the cover page to scan the paragraph typed thereon – it comprised a summary of the steps the investigator took, contained a list of contacts in South Dakota and Kansas – potential current states of residence based on credit card activity - should you want to trail him further, and provided a social security number along with a name in bold uppercase print: JIMMY NOVAK.

A noose of nerves cinched tightly at your throat. The last thing you expected was an outright lie.

Steve … no, Jimmy, he carried a sadness in the slouch of his shoulders, a something secretive that distanced his gaze sometimes; he told you he lost everything - his family, his home - that he started over with nothing save the two feet he landed on to build a foundation. You believed him, respected his fortitude to move forward, and loved him enough not to push him to talk about a past obviously painful to him until he was ready.

You never dreamed what he meant to say was everything you knew of him, everything he shared, was a fabrication built not to move on from the truth, but to hide it from you.

The whoosh of your pulse pounded in your ears; vision tunneled, the panicked pump of racing blood blackened the periphery of the white sheet when you turned to the next page.

Written there was the fact Jimmy had another family; had a daughter – Claire. He left them, too. He hadn’t lost his family and home, he ran out on them just like he ran out on you.

“Mama?” Dainty fingers tapped at the damp shine of your cheek; she crept in so quietly you hadn’t heard the tip-toe tread of her bare feet on the carpet. “Mama?” she said it again, a broken whisper verging on a sob, and tangled her limbs around your neck.

You shoved the papers off your crossed legs and pulled the ball of her body into your embrace. “What’s wrong, baby bee?” Blinking to staunch the sting of your tears, your piqued emotion surrendered to a roused motherly alarm as you folded the mess of her sweat-matted hair to your bosom where she could hear the reassuring thump-thump housed within.

“I had a bad dream,” she murmured and fisted the fabric of your robe.

Me, too, you thought, and snuggled her in tighter.

Glancing at the discarded report amid the box’s other trinkets, your bleary gaze landed on a glossy polaroid photo of you and Steve snapped at a holiday party you goaded him into attending with you when your original plus one ditched you at the last minute so you wouldn’t have to face alone a roomful of tipsy marketing execs you loathed.

That night, that moment, his fingers flirting hesitatingly at your waist, touches giving in to the pull of gravity as the night wore on to graze then hug your hips as if they belonged there - had always been there - a confidant and comfort tenderly testing the territory of more - you naïvely yielding like pliant putty to his touch - that was the point of no return; through the retrospective filter of the truth it became clear he seemed too good to be true, because nothing about him was true.

Part of you wished you could reseal the envelope and the truth with it and return to the comparative bliss of not knowing. Mostly you seethed, an unprocessed anger relegated to the back-burner ignited, inflaming mind and muscle until your entire frame radiated a heat of rage.

The girl quaking in your grasp, bend of her spine shivering as you skimmed it in soothing caresses, reminded you some nightmares do evolve to have happy endings; no matter what happened, or what would happen, you had her and he couldn’t take that away from you.

Wiping her fear and tear flushed features into your pajamas, she gasped a desire that plunged daggers through your heart. “I want my daddy.”

“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” you spoke in a whisper to shush her whimpers and calm the heated tempest of your nerves.

She went limp wrapped in the safety of your words and arms; you’d do anything for her, including suffer pain and swallow your pride to dredge up a monster from the past. You only prayed he wouldn’t hurt her, too.

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[antman-56]

The Day We Meet Again Pt. 5

News Anchor 1 : Reports of small riots over Sunsets Family’s facilities have now turned to a ...

News Anchor 2 : Vacuo has now entered a state of emergency due to the increase violence of Faunus workers under Starr Industries...

News Reporter : Atlas is now called martial law once again due to the Faunus attacking SDC security and supervisors. As you can see below me their are fires and raging rioters. We were lucky-

Pilot : Ma’am were leaving!!!

NR 3 : Why?!

Pilot : Reports of the rioters gath-

The camera shakes violently with the screams of the news team and the helicopters warnings ringing.

The screen soon turned back to the main news team starring in shock and one of them crying.

They weren’t alone. Team RWBYJNR had the same reaction. Speechless and scarred. Kali was in tears. All the progress they have done since Adam’s suposive death. Gone.

Ghira right now was giving a statement, mostly to say he and the new White Fang had no part of this.

Kali : I can’t believe... 

Kali left the room in a hurry.

Blake : Adam has to be a part of the insurgency.

Weiss : How do you know?

Blake : He has to!! The White Fang stopped supporting him when he ran away at Haven. Their is no way-

Ren : It could have been a Faunus worker responsible. They might’ve saw or heard some of the things Adam did.

Blake : But he left. Abandoned his friends.

Jaune : What message would you send when you attack the people your supposed to liberate? 

Blake : He attacked me.

Ren : More than likely out of anger and the fact you organized that resistance.

Nora : Are you defending him?

Ren : No, I’m trying to rationalize what he was thinking when Blake showed up with Menagerie resistance.

Blake : Well he lost everything when he fled.

Ren : That didn’t mean everyone gave up on him, just the majority of Menagerie,.

Yang : And what dose that mean?

Ren : That the Faunus in slavery still see him as a hero.

Nora : But he was a murder and a coward.

Ren : Like Jaune said, what message would he send if he attacked the Faunus, reports say that his men fired at the humans and mostly ignored the Faunus resistance. The only people that were attacked were the ones who fought them, ie you and Sun.

Blake : But what of the ones that fired?

Ren (on scroll) : Reports state that they were employees of different facilities of different companies. Meaning-

Blake : They weren’t part of Menagerie.

Ren : Exactly. According to their statements Adam saved them from either mutilation, rape, torture, the list goes on. 

Blake : That’s not ...

Ren : Well that explains why they fired. They didn’t want to anyone to go through what they did, even if it meant killing humans.

Blake : That doesn’t change the fact that-

Ren : Blake your trying to make a slave and a free man have the same mind. Its not going to work. One knows the hardships in life and the other doesn’t. One lived in a room alone and the other shared a broom closet with 12 others with no restroom. One ate whenever they wanted the other was lucky if his superiors remembered him.

Blake was quiet. 

Ren : From what was seen, to written, to said will change. The workers probable see you and Menagerie as spoiled or lucky. That you don’t know what they have suffered, They see survival of ones self important. That it’s common for them then it is to the people of Menagerie. So, Adam running means nothing to them. It only meant he would come back. 

Blake : But we are fighting for the same thing.

Ren : The only difference is that they want it done faster than how your father can do it.

Blake : So, we know why they follow him now. So who's leading this group?

Weiss : I'll call Whitely. Ask for some intel and who knows we might get lucky.

With that Weiss left and Nora changed the channel to Ghira.

Ghira : Again we have no leads on who is responsible for these attacks. As you have heard they tried to take my life as well. (He gestures his torso so they can see the bandages) But we will help the local authorities find the culprits and the mastermind behind this.

The reportes all rushed for their questions.

Ghira : Yes, you in the back.

Reporter  : Do you think this has anything to do with the late Adam Taurus? 

Ghira : No comment.

He left the stage all the while the media was adding more to the question.

When Ghira made it back he saw that all eyes were on him.

Ghira :Blake i’m-

Blake : Dad this is your last chance. We need to know what the Faunus have suffered so we can get an idea on how to help the kingdoms.

Ghira (sighing) : You just don’t give up.

Blake : Dad i’m not a child. I want to help but before I go in blind I need to know what to look out for. How to handle a worse case scenario better than going in blind.

Ghira stayed silent.

Yang (enraged) : Dammit old man. What is it that  that your hiding?!?!

Yang stomped over to him. Ghira didn’t bend but he meet the girls red eyes with his own.

Ghira : All of you are so naive.

This caught them by surprise.

Ruby : I’m sorry sir, but no. We have seen our fair share of the world.

Ghira : And what is that? Grimm? Miss Rose, the Grimm are simple creatures. They see and kill any thing that looks human. They are far easier to handle than politics, or worse, humans.

Ghira covered his eyes and laughed silently.

Ghira : You don’t know what it is that I know. Blake, you are right but you are not ready yet.

Blake (enraged) : What do you mean i’m NOT ready!! I have fought the White Fang, Humans that see us as garbage, and-

Ghira : THATS ONLY THE TIP OF IT!!!

Blake backed down and everyone could see the more cat like eyes on Ghira.

The man is stressed out. With the attempted assassination on his life, the riots, the media trying to get him to confess to a crime he didn’t commit, and now a determined daughter asking about the horrors he has seen. 

He was at the end of his rope.

Ghira (recomposed) : You really want to know?

Blake just nodded.

Ghira : Follow me.

He began to walk into the masion and Blake and co. followed.

It had been close to 10 minutes and he was not stopping. They have now entered further down into the Mansion. Even Blake was surprised, she had never seen this part of it.

They had now entered an old room, in the middle of it laid an old desk, an old chair,  some books and a lamp on the desk and a book shelfs filled the wall all of them full.

Ghira took a seat and stared at his daughter, his pride and joy but also a pain. Still he loved her.

Ghira : Mr. Arc close the door.

THUNK

 Ghira : Now the truth.

Blake felt uneasy and she wasn’t alone. The room was old and the cold. And the fact that Ghira was a calm disheveled mess scared her to no end. Still she would not bend to the truth of her people.

Ghira : The Faunus have suffered more than you and the world know. Along with being put into force labor either by kidnapping or by poverty. we have suffered more.

Blake : I kno-

Ghira (raised his hand to silence her) : Along with that, we have been used as test subjects since we are more human than rats. Forced to endure unknown chemical compounds to see how they respond. all in the name of science And somtimes for fashion. Faunus are put on a table and are removed of their skin if it resembles leather or any other animal fabric. We have been hunted like fair game. Deer, Rabbit, Moose, and even Bird Faunus are kidnapped or bought from companies and are released into the wild to be hunted for sport. Faunus of endangered species are more preferred since their counterpart would get them arrested if caught. (the room grew colder as he forced himself to reveal more) And in some kingdoms they get away with it since “A savage attacked me. I had to defend myself”. (croaking) We are put into gladiator pits forced to kill one another for the pleasure of others. Some Faunus with more mutations like razor sharp teeth, claws, fangs, or thick skin are put to fight others of the same, more, or less mutations. Doesn’t matter about age, gender, relations, species, or conditions. As long as their masters are happy. Their are cults that require the blood of animals and humans and guess who fits right into that category. The scenes that were left behind, it was one of the few things I agreed with what Adam did. (he closed his eyes) The women in some of those examples are put into breeding facilities, legal or not, mostly not. Do you know what it fells like to be held down ladies ( RWBYN began to feel chill down their spine, some making a fist to hold in their rage others to mortified to do anything but hug themselves). begging for it to stop and then forced to give birth right were you defecate. I saw the photos and I didn’t want to imagine your mother in that situation. Did you know their was a plan for you and your mother at one point. ( Blake was now mortified, she was shaking and RW_YJNR stared at her). Sienna told me after Adam found the conspirators and the traitor. Out of the 5 we destroyed the youngest one recorded was 6. And we believe their are more and we are still searching. The Butchers Mine was one of a few example of us being used as cattle. Their are clubs that kidnap Faunus, fatten them up and feed them to the family. And get to do it again. If you wan to know more, the books here hold the records of each encounter that Adam and others found. Now if you’ll excuse me.

Ghira got up and left. Leaving a room filled with mortified young adults.

Nora was being consoled by Ren. You could hear quiet sniffles. Ren stayed strong for her, she needed him now.

Ruby was looking at the floor. Trying to understand how people could do that another being.

Weiss was beginning to hyperventilate. What else has her father done to their name and could it even be fixed.

Jaune walked up to Weiss and gave her a hug. She didn’t care at the moment if it was him, Ruby or anyone. She just needed someone to hold.

Yang walked up to Blake. You collapsed to her knees before she could reach her. 

Yang dropped next to her and hug her, hoping to bring her some comfort.

Yang : It’s okay. It’s okay. We can fix this.

Blake began to stare at the desk. Her people have suffered and they were right about her.

She was nothing more than a princess. She may fight for her people and her goal may be noble. But she would ignore the people who have suffered without a second thought.

Adam was right. He was right.

He was right.

[homesoutofhuman]

Part 8 - How am I supposed to live without you?

John enters your room and almost stumbles back from the fragrance. Your room is filled with lilies, white and some pink, overflowing from expensive crystal vases. Even Nora’s bed is surrounded by them since there are so many.

He comes to your bedside. “I don’t want to be a killjoy but this isn’t really acceptable. This is a hospital...there are rules...”

You bite your lip, anxious. “I’m so sorry...Santino didn’t tell me he was going to do this…”

John’s gaze softens when he looks at you. “Tell you what. Pick one vase to keep and we can distribute the rest among the ward patients. There are some people who never get flowers…”

You feel guilty again so just nod, keeping your eyes low and feeling ashamed at how John must see you, spoilt and shallow.

He finds a place to sit not taken over with flowers. “He must really love you….to go to all this trouble.”

You snort. “His assistant will have had the trouble I’m sure…”

John looks even more perplexed at your reaction and you feel the need to explain.

“I’m sorry...Dr Wick…” somehow you don’t dare call him John since he’s being so stern with you. “I sound ungrateful...but this is just how our marriage is. Outward displays of grandiose affection with little behind them.”

John looks concerned and you know you’re babbling, know he has better things to do, but then he leans in closer.

“Listen, we’re friends aren’t we? You can tell me anything…”

Oh...back to that..

You feel a shock of sadness, you know your marriage is over but you can’t bring yourself to say it out loud. Your feelings for John are strong and confusing, so new and delicate like a wild flower, so you just stare at him with sorrowful eyes.

John chucks you under the chin. “We’re going on an adventure.”

You sit up, looking at him questioningly. “Great. But where?”

John moves to the side of your bed and you place your arms on his shoulders, using him to lift yourself up. He wraps an arm around your waist and holds you steady, you never realised how strong he was.

John guides you gently, you sigh against his neck and he feels himself growing warm just from having you in his arms. He tries to concentrate on getting you out of the ward without accident.

“Are you kidnapping me John?” you ask, thinking of Santino’s face if he happened to come and find you gone.

John laughs. “If I were we’d be getting out of this hospital as fast as possible…”

You catch his mood, giggling as well, your stress about the flowers and Santino not coming to visit forgotten. “Where would we go, John?”

He pretends to ponder the question seriously. “How about...Napa Valley? Great wine...sunshine...we could hire an open top car...play good music and sing along...I’d love to hear you sing again.”

You sigh, almost going weak in his arms at the image he conjures up. “Sounds amazing...a great road trip with friends…”

John frowns a bit, nodding, but his eyes stray to your lips remembering how it felt to kiss you. “I’ve got to make you better first…”

“I feel okay…” you let him go and show him how you can stand on your own. John gives you a sceptical look, staying close ready to catch you at any moment and you poke your tongue out at him.

“Leave me be Doctor! Stop fussing!” you playfully push at him and he grabs you, tickling you into submission until you’re giggling, laid back in his arms, still trying to push him away weakly.

He stares down at you, your flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes, your chest rising and falling with rapid shaky breathes. You catch his eye and stop smiling, bringing a hand to caress his handsome face.

“John…” you try to convey all your longing and regret in one gaze, and he nods almost in answer, nuzzling his nose against yours but leaving your mouth alone.

There is a loud cough and you grab John’s arm, worried he will drop you. Of course he doesn’t, tightening his hold, sliding a hand on your back and lifting you upright again.

Nora is regarding you both with a sceptical look. “I know you came to visit me but I’m not feeling the centre of attention at the moment…”

You push John away, missing his offended look and rush to her. ���Nora! How are you?”

She waves away your concerns. “Never mind that...tell me the gossip back on the ward...has that guy with the Harry Styles hair gone home yet?”

You nod and she scoffs. “Too bad.”

John leaves you to catch up and when he returns 20 minutes later he finds Nora napping in bed. You’re sitting in the chair beside the bed stroking her hand and looking sad. He sighs and moves to lead you away. Nora shifts in her sleep but doesn’t wake, John pulls you towards the canteen, watching you with concern.

“Maybe the visit wasn’t such a good idea…”

“No...she liked it I think, she just got tired quickly from the excitement.”

You look worn and pale and John curses himself. “I meant for you...it was meant to make you feel better but you look worse..”

“Oh thanks.“ you say sarcastically, sliding into a booth in the corner of the hospital canteen. “Can you get me a coffee...please?” you put on your best wide eyed Disney stare and John rolls his eyes.

“I was going to anyway...no need to break out the lashes…” he mutters under his breath, moving to buy two cups of fresh coffee and a muffin. He remembers when he was last in here, with your husband, and the thought leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

He comes back to you, urging you to eat. You sip your coffee and pick at the muffin halfheartedly. “Nora wouldn’t tell me John, but she’s really sick isn’t she?”

He sighs. “You know I can’t discuss another patient’s medical issues with you.”

“Oh.” you look down, frowning and waiting for him to scold you more. Instead you feel a hand on top of yours, rubbing your knuckles.

“I’m sorry Y/N...it’s the way it is…”

You look back up. “I know...please don’t be mad at me…”

“I’m not mad. What are you talking about?” John snorts a bit in disbelief, the thought he could ever be angry at you seems preposterous, then something clicks in his mind.

“Does Santino get angry at you?”

You shrug. “Sometimes…” John’s eyes go murderous and you rush to reassure him. “He never hurt me John…”

John makes a low growl in his throat. “If he did I think I’d kill him.”

“You’re a doctor...you swore an oath not to hurt people.” you remind him gently, but feel your heart swell at his words. “But...thank you...I appreciate it.”

John glares at an invisible Santino, finishing his coffee. “He neglects you though...I’ve seen it.”

“As you said...it’s not fair to discuss him with you John...can we talk about something else?” you plead again and he relents.

“Sure. Eat your muffin.”

You roll your eyes but shove a large piece on your mouth. “You’re trying to fatten me up..”

John smirks. “Anything to stop you leaving…”

You gasp, almost choking on the muffin and immediately his face falls. 

“Sorry...I….I know you have to leave it’s just...I’m going to miss you…”

You feel like crying, speaking in a small voice. “Me too….”

John can see his world crumbling before him and he doesn’t know what to do, he doesn’t want to scare you off with the intensity of his feelings, but he cannot let the chance pass him by.

“I think we should talk...not here…” he glances around the canteen full of his colleagues and knows what he wants to say would lose his job instantly if overheard.

“Outside?”

He leads you to the hospital garden and you spy the flowers he picked for you, they mean more to you than the hundreds of dollars worth of fancy blooms sent by your husband you feel a depression settle on your heart.

You sit on the bench side by side and rest your head on his shoulder. John strokes your hair, savouring the moment. You relax into him, sliding you arms around his waist and cuddling him like a teddy bear, a very attractive teddy bear but still. He smells like rain and he feels like hope.

He turns to you, running his eyes over your face. “I never thought I’d be the kind of man to suggest this, but I also never knew I could want something so much as I want you so...” he holds up a hand to stop you interrupting.

“...so I’m asking you...be with me...give me a chance...and we will keep it a secret. It’s not fair of me to ask you to choose, we hardly know each other..but I cannot live without you anymore...”

“I....” you feel overwhelmed by his sudden declaration, your instinct is to run away and John senses it, holding you tight against him. 

“I don’t know John...” you whimper, tears coming to your eyes as the conflict rages in your heart.

He gives you a longing look, his eyes full of emotion and desire, and before you can even say another world he grabs your face in his large hands and kisses you passionately.

His tongue is in your mouth, erasing all protests, any rational argument, and you let yourself drown in him, his warmth, his want. He kisses you as if it may be the last time, and the intensity makes your head spin. Santino always kissed you lazily, as if assuming the next kiss would always be there whenever he chose to want it. John’s sweet desperation is turning you on like nothing else and you kiss him back then, letting go. 

When John feels you respond he groans into your mouth, grasping you eagerly and you feel a rush of power that comes with affecting such a gorgeous man. His eyes rake over your body and see him lick his lips.

“I feel....dizzy...” you whimper and he presses his fingers against your neck to take your pulse.

“You’re fine baby....” he whispers, brushing your lips again and you realise...this is what true desire feels like.

-------------

Heal the pain masterlist

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam España episode 2 reaction

After the first three episodes, Skam España has slid more into of the original storyline, although there are still some places where it keeps diverging. But you can always count on a squad power walk.

Episode 2

Clip 1 - Pizza solves problems

Eva is just chilling, eating snacks, thinking about her lying, two-timing, conniving boyfriend. Well, potentially lying and two-timing and conniving. She composes a text, saying that she thought she saw him on the bus with Inés, then backtracks and deletes the Inés part.

Jorge ignores her question and is like, hey, you alone? He rings the doorbell within a minute of her text, so either he was already in the neighborhood or he got to her place faster than Even in Skam season 3, episode 7.

And he brought a pizza! He got there so fast that I don’t think it could be a deflecting-suspicion pizza, but I guess it could hypothetically be a guilt-pizza. Most likely it’s just a pizza-pizza.

He has the decency to ask her about the meeting with the girls, which is nice, but he comes across as being maybe a little overly friendly? Like I could definitely see where he was on his best boyfriend behavior so Eva doesn’t ask more questions about him on the bus. But Eva does ask him, and he says he was just coming back from Lucas’ house on the bus. He says he was alone and Eva doesn’t push him to admit otherwise. I mean ... we know Jorge is up to something, but hypothetically he could have just happened to get on the same bus as Inés and engaged in awkward small talk. It could have been an Isak-and-Even-in-S3.2 situation, with less flirtation.

Jorge is like, whenever I’m in you’re neighborhood, I head over to you. I see you and I have to get close. Yeah, that would explain why you cheated on Inés, I guess!

I feel like Jorge is really nice and friendly but makes a lot of promises he can’t keep and uses his charm to get away with it.

They seem to be having a good time, except Eva looks down to see his phone, just sitting there on the counter, being all tempting. Her hand creeps toward it just a fraction at the very end.

Clip 2 - Reese’s are the best

Viri is trying to encourage the girls to sell stuff like T-shirts and hats to fund their trip. All due respect, Viri, but I would want to see those designs of those before you start manufacturing.

She also turns down an offer of a snack saying that it’s fattening. Eva is fine with getting fat. Nora says they didn’t have these snacks in Wisconsin. Cris is like, I thought you had everything in Wisconsin? Nora’s like, we had peanut butter and pancakes and Reese’s. Everyone is in agreement over Reese’s being delicious, which they are. Although I would have loved if Nora was like, “We had bratwurst and cheese curds.”

Fun fact: every Memorial Day weekend, Madison, Wisconsin hosts Brat Fest, the world’s largest festival of bratwurst. I feel like Nora needs to tell all of her friends about this in a detailed scene.

Anyway, Viri is not interested in this Wisconsin food talk and you can see her trying to interject before finally bursting out and asking the girls what they think of her plan to sell stuff. They’re all like, eh. Probably thinking about Reese’s.

Eva sees Jorge and trots off to kiss him. We move away from her POV for a moment, getting the girls’ opinions on Jorge. Cris would fuck him. Thanks for letting us know, Cris.

Clip 3 - Enter P-Cris

Yeah, I don’t know how much profit you’re going to make selling pens, Viri, unless they’re really fancy fountain pens or you’re selling them in a big pack.

Viri “forgot” to invite Amira to the group, not good, Viri. Amira is like, your pens plan is dumb and Viri is like well OBVIOUSLY we had this binding agreement yesterday to go ahead.

Lmao, Penetrator Chris is introduced because the girls are calling for girl Cris across the room and he just happens to be there? It’s not as funny as Eva hunting him down and bringing him to the girls’ bathroom, but I mean, the man saw an opportunity and took advantage of it.

P-Cris is pretty cute in a boy band sort of way. He doesn’t even introduce himself to the other girls gaping at him, he’s all about Eva.

The girls detected sizzling chemistry between them, leap on that opportunity and tell Eva to get him to invite the group to his party this weekend right then and there. (Viri’s delivery is really funny here, lmao.)

Viri is like ALEJANDRO WILL BE THERE and Nora is like, who’s that? Because she has the audacity to not know The Cutest Boy in School. They show her pictures of Alejandro. Is Alejandro like a legit model or something? One of those pictures is a straight-up Blue Steel from a photoshoot.

Girl Cris is the one to like all of his IG pics for Eva, not Amira. And she’s the one who seems more actively egging on Eva to flirt. Amira wants to go to the party but she’s not the instigator.

Viri gives Amira a high-five so I mean, progress? A smidge?

Clip 4 - Stalker!

Jorge and Lucas are talking about buying DJ equipment. Jorge mentions that he doesn’t have the money for good equipment, but he doesn’t want to buy secondhand or cheap equipment in case it breaks. It’s mentioned that he might need a job to pay for the equipment. So perhaps this is motivation for whatever shady shit Jorge will be doing? Or it’s connected to it in a way. He needs money.

Anyway, Eva isn’t super involved in this conversation, so she’s pretty pleased when boy Cris texts her and calls her a stalker. When she is asked for her input, she goes with “Lucas is right,” whether she was actually paying attention or just that she knows that “Lucas is right” is usually true and will therefore make it seem like she’s paying attention.

The way Lucas looks at Jorge is always so warm and fond.

Cris invites Eva to the party and she’s like “What party?” as if this is Brand New Information. Cris flirts with Eva, saying he’ll throw party for her. She is clearly pleased by this attention, as opposed to her boyfriend being wrapped up in a conversation with his friend.

Lucas and Jorge are seriously going on about this. What if they end up DJing at one of these Penetrator parties? Lucas says he wants to learn how to DJ and Jorge says he’ll teach him, which I’m sure will be a thrilling experience for Lucas. Cue Lucas playing 20 pining love songs in a row.

Eva is on the fence about going to Cris’ party when Jorge is just like “Lucas, you want to do something this weekend?” Eva is startled by this. The camera zooms in on her face, similar to that scene in the last episode, so I think it’s definitely an artistic choice. I thought it was decently executed here so as to communicate her surprise.

Lucas is like, sure, we could get a beer. Don’t pretend his heart didn’t flutter when Jorge asked.

He also says they can’t drink at his house, because of bad vibes, “the usual,” which is certainly his mom’s condition and maybe his parents fighting. Jorge knows about this situation well enough to know that it’s typical at Lucas’ home.

Jorge also asks Eva if she wants to do something, too. And she’s honest with him, mostly! There’s a party at Cris’, she and the girls were invited (well, that’s a fib, she was the only ones specifically invited, but technically Cris did say she could bring whoever like five seconds ago …) She just leaves out that, you know, she flirted with Cris to get her and her squad into this party. I mean, this does drive home how shady Eva herself was being. Jorge and all the Jonases are keeping secrets, but here’s Eva having some of her own, even when she’s being fairly honest. 

Jorge and Lucas think Cris and his pals suck. Lucas says those guys don’t think about anything but hooking up with girls and Jorge is all, “That’s like all of us,” and Lucas is like AHAHAHA what a totally relatable comment! His laugh is so awkward, lol. Like AHAHAHAA kill me.

But the boys realize that a party is a party and agree to go. I mean, time to check out Cris’ big-ass house.

The way this is shot makes Jorge and Lucas all bunched together and facing together, while Eva is separated from them by a backpack with more space between them.

However, they still seem really close! In the original, in this scene Eva was listening to the boys make fun of her and her friends and the russ concept, while she was texting Chris. This is so much more benign! Sure, the boys are wrapped up in their own conversation, but they do ask for her input, and they invite her to their plans, and this whole conversation is so much more light-hearted. Jorge even seems to be a little satisfied when Eva mentions the other girls were invited, like maybe he’s proud of her for having friends. It’s quite sweet to see, but it also downplays Eva’s irritation with her boyfriend and how the boys could make her feel like shit. So they’re going to have to really sell me on the inevitable fractures in the group.

Clip 5 - Party time at Cris’ big-ass house

Eva is waiting at the metro and texting Jorge. He says they’ll show up to the party at 21:00 because being the first to arrive is lame. He also has low battery - convenient!

The other girls show up, then Viri. Viri is really dressed up like a Barbie, the girls are happy, it’s cute! Then Viri has to make it awkward by mentioning Amira’s “Bible” prevents her from drinking. Amira corrects her patiently.

Nora makes it a little less awkward by saying she also doesn’t drink, though Eva and Cris laugh their asses off at her explanation because it’s such a mom thing to say.

Also Viri brought some alcohol from home, which doesn’t really mean anything in itself since it’s so common, except in connection with Vilde’s home life with her mom, it makes you wonder if it’s deliberate. Like Viri wants to get some of the booze out of the house, or there’s so much of it her mom won’t miss it. 

The girls are very cute and excited as they walk to the party. It’s a fun sequence! The power walk/party entrance has a lot of stylized editing that’s different from what we usually see in a Skam remake, like zooms on each of the girls as they step through the door, but I adored that series of choppy zooms on Cris as he’s checking out Eva. It’s so ridiculous, but so fitting for Skam’s resident unabashed fuckboy.

It is kind of funny to me that they made sure to mention Cris’ big house, but the party seems to be confined to a rave in the basement.

Viri is beside herself when she sees Alejandro, like she’s reminded of his hotness all over again. This girl legit malfunctions around him.

Viri sees Lara, mysterious Lara who just transferred from Red Herring Academy! Eva seems way too happy when Viri runs over to her, like isn’t she worried about what happened with Lara, that Inés told her Eva’s sordid past?

So Eva doesn’t forget the dinner with Jorge and her mom, as in the original, but Jorge is supposed to come to the party and he’s running late and probably going to bail completely. Basically, Eva’s not the one at fault here.

Clip 6 - More of the party

Yeah, I really don’t see the point in breaking up the clips like this. Plenty of scenes and events in the original were spread over a longer period of time, but within one clip.

Is Alejandro checking out Nora already or is Cris looking at Eva in that one shot? Or both?

Lol, I love Nora getting a call from her cousin in Madison. There’s like a seven-hour time difference. Please please keep dropping Wisconsin references.

As soon as Nora’s gone, boy Cris makes a move. He plops down and makes it clear he was waiting for a chance to talk to Eva alone. He does this smooth move where he “can’t hear her” so he puts his arm around her to get closer. She tells him she has a boyfriend and he’s like, pfffft, truly not a setback!

Cris leaves, Eva checks her phone. Jorge said he’d be there but he is emphatically not. Jorge, we were rooting for you!

Inés shows up, just in time to see that Eva is all alone like a friendless loser, of course. She starts talking to Alejandro, who turns his attention away from Viri to Inés. Viri gets crestfallen and shuffles away.

Clip 7 - Viri fulfills her dream

Eva is still waiting for Jorge’s ass to show up. Sigh.

The music from the trailer plays as Viri is back to talking to Alejandro, although he seems more closed off (arms crossed). The other girls are watching and creating their own soap opera version of Viri and Alejandro’s conversation. Cris accurately nails Viri’s thirst; Amira perfectly embodies Alejandro’s indifference.

Her boyfriend nowhere to be found, Eva gets to dance with the girls, at least, and all is well until she gets too into her movies and knocks into Inés. Inés is ready for a fight, but the other girls defend Eva. Eva, however, backs down and says she needs to be more careful, and Inés agrees with her. Somehow I think they’re talking about being careful with something other than overly vigorous dancing, like, IDK, boyfriends.

Inés walks off and the other girls wonder what her deal is. Cris is ready to thrown down but Eva sharply wants them to drop it.

Eva wants to leave even though Inés is also headed out. Mood, killed, certainly not helping that her purse appears to have been drenched in whiskey. However, girl Cris herds the girls away for some good news, which is that Viri is making out with Alejandro in a closet/cupboard/pantry thing. The girls cheer and applaud, Cris yells at them to get a room, but Alejandro and Viri don’t really notice, lol. Now that’s some dedication to making out.

So we didn’t get Amira defending Viri against Inés in this version! Instead, we have the girls defending Eva against Inés, of course not knowing the full story of their friendship breakup. In particular, Cris was ready to bust a skull. But that was a big moment in the Sana-Vilde relationship, so you have to wonder if we’ll get a similar moment later where Viri realizes that Amira is fully ride or die. 

I wonder if Inés left because that girl told her Alejandro was taken, since it seemed like perhaps Inés wanted to get with him? Or if it had something to do with Jorge?

General Comments/Social Media:

This episode was way more in line with the original episode 4, which is where we are after condensing three episodes into the first. We had the party with the power walk, Eva and Cris’ flirtation, etc. though there were still variations in tone and some other plot points that were different.

On social media, Lara leaves the trip group chat without comment, so I think it’s safe to say Inés got to her. The two of them are shown in pics together. Viri was partying with Lara on IG on Saturday, so whatever happened can’t be THAT bad. I guess Lara doesn’t like Eva but Viri’s fine in her eyes.

Apparently the text messages between Eva and Cris have some loaded vibes where Cris uses language associated with sexual harassment and assault. Not against Eva, but like “I’ll let you sexually harass me.” Like he comes across as a dude who’s just ignorant about the topic and privileged. Cris was fucking JAZZED about Eva coming to the party, too, like he had no chill. I mean, Eva is a beautiful girl with excellent bangs, so I understand.

Cris posted this video on IG of soap being sliced and like, sometimes I don’t get the weird shit people post but I felt instantly at peace watching that soap being diced.

There’s a text about Eva binging a TV show and betraying Jorge by watching it all, and it has 11 episodes, so that could very well be a reference to OG Skam S1. LEARN FROM EVA’S MISTAKES, EVA.

There were quite a few pictures and IG stories from the party, which was good of the social media team to recreate the feel of a real party.

I’m not Spanish so feel free to correct me on anything!

If you got this far, thank you for reading!